The present invention relates to a system housing, in particular for a heating, ventilating and/or air-conditioning system of a vehicle, comprising at least three housing parts, which serve for accommodating air-conditioning-system components and/or for forming air-channeling paths, as described by the preamble of the independent claim.
System housings for heating, ventilating and/or air-conditioning systems are usually provided by injection molding in the prior art. In the design, the person skilled in the art has to ensure, inter alia, that the housing has a high level of sealing and that the number of steps required for assembly purposes is as small as possible.
Up until now, housings have usually been provided by two injection moldings. In this case, one injection molding is a bottom or base part and the other is a top or head part and a central part. These are brought into abutment with one another and connected by means of screw connection or the like. The reason for subdividing the housing into two parts is based on the fact that the system housing is to have the fewest possible connections to the surrounds, on the one hand, in order for it to be possible to provide the necessary level of sealing and also in order for it to be possible to ensure the necessary rigidity and vibration resistance.
The disadvantage here is that air-directing elements, in particular air flaps, usually take a lot of time to install in the system housing since the shapes are too complex, or are not possible to reproduce, for injection molding. The installation of the additional elements here gives rise to high assembly and maintenance outlay. The poor internal sealing between the housing parts and the plugged-in air-directing elements is a further disadvantage.
The object of the invention is thus to provide a system housing which is easier, quicker and thus more cost-effective to produce and assemble and which ensures sufficient levels of sealing, stability and vibration resistance for the housing parts.
This object is achieved by the features of the independent patent claim, expedient developments being described by the features of the dependent claims.